Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T06:03:47.105Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Microstructure Analysis of a Carbon–Carbon Composite Using Argon Ion Etching

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2005

Andreas Pfrang ,
Boris Reznik ,
Thomas Schimmel  and
Dagmar Gerthsen
Andreas Pfrang
Affiliation:
Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
Boris Reznik
Affiliation:
Laboratorium für Elektronenmikroskopie, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
Thomas Schimmel
Affiliation:
Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
Dagmar Gerthsen
Affiliation:
Laboratorium für Elektronenmikroskopie, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
Get access

Abstract

The microstructure of carbon–carbon composites obtained by chemical vapor infiltration of a carbon fiber felt was comparatively studied by reflection light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). Ar+ ion etching was used to reveal and distinguish structural units of the pyrolytic carbon matrix. Mechanically polished samples, polished and subsequently ion etched samples, and fractured samples were compared. The values of surface roughness and surface height after polishing or after polishing and subsequent etching determined by AFM and LSCM correlate well with the degree of texture of the matrix layers obtained by polarized light microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. The carbon matrix is composed of structural units or “cells,” which contain a carbon fiber and a sequence of several differently textured layers around each fiber. Within high-textured layers columnar grains are well recognizable using polarized reflection light microscopy and confocal microscopy. The size of depressions within high-textured carbon layers found by AFM after ion etching correlates well with the size of differently tilted domains detected by both TEM and SEM.

Keywords

reflection light microscopyatomic force microscopylaser scanning confocal microscopytransmission electron microscopyscanning electron microscopyargon ion etchingcarbon–carbon compositepyrolytic carbon
Type
MATERIALS APPLICATIONS
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 2005 , pp. 46 - 55
Copyright
© 2005 Microscopy Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Benzinger, W. & Hüttinger, K.J. (1999). Chemistry and kinetics of chemical vapor infiltration of pyrocarbon–V. Infiltration of carbon fiber felt. Carbon 37, 941–946.Google Scholar
Bortchagovsky, E.G., Reznik, B., Gerthsen, D., Pfrang, A., & Schimmel, Th. (2003). Optical properties of pyrolytic carbon deposits deduced from measurements of the extinction angle by polarized light microscopy. Carbon 41, 2430–2433.Google Scholar
Bourrat, X., Trouvat, B., Limousin, G., & Vignoles, G. (2000). Pyrocarbon anisotropy as measured by electron diffraction and polarized light. J Mater Res 15, 92–101.Google Scholar
Fitzer, E. & Manocha, L.M. (1998). Carbon Reinforcements and Carbon/Carbon Composites. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
Grün, M., Funfrock, F., Schunk, P., Schimmel, Th., Hetterich, M., & Klingshirn, C. (1998). On the nature of nanometer-scale islands formed by cadmium selenide deposition on hexagonal cadmium sulfide (0001) A. Appl Phys Lett 73, 1343–1345.Google Scholar
Loll, P., Delhaes, P., Pacault, A., & Pierre, A. (1977). Diagramme d'éxistence et proprietes de composites carbone-carbone. Carbon 15, 383–390.Google Scholar
Lüerßen, D., Bleher, R., Richter, H., Schimmel, Th., Kalt, H., Rosenauer, A., Litvinov, D., Kamilli, A., Gerthsen, D., Ohkawa, K., Jobst, B., & Hommel, D. (1999). Radiative combination centers induced by stacking-fault pairs in ZnSe/ZnMgSSe quantum well structures. Appl Phys Lett 75, 3944–3946.Google Scholar
Oberlin, A. (2002). Pyrocarbons. Carbon 40, 7–24.Google Scholar
Pfrang, A., Hüttinger, K.J., & Schimmel, Th. (2002). Adhesion imaging of carbon fiber reinforced materials in the pulsed force mode of the AFM. Surf Interface Anal 33, 96–99.Google Scholar
Pfrang, A., Reznik, B., Gerthsen, D., & Schimmel, Th. (2003). Comparative study of differently textured pyrolytic carbon layers by atomic force, transmission electron and polarized light microscopy. Carbon 41, 181–185.Google Scholar
Reznik, B., Gerthsen, D., & Hüttinger, K.J. (2001). Micro- and nanostructure of the carbon matrix of infiltrated carbon fiber felts. Carbon 39, 215–229.Google Scholar
Reznik, B. & Hüttinger, K.J. (2002). On the terminology for pyrolytic carbon. Carbon 40, 621–624.Google Scholar
Wiesendanger, R. (Ed.). (1998). Scanning Probe Microscopy. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.